


11. Stitches

by titC



Series: Whumptober 2019 [11]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Gen, whumptober2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-10-21 08:49:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20690768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/titC/pseuds/titC
Summary: Karen will never forget.





	11. Stitches

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Whumptober](https://whumptober2019.tumblr.com/) for organizing it and [PixelByPixel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/) for the beta!  


Benji’s followed Karen for years, now. 

Wherever she goes, Benji’s got his spot at the head of the bed, and he doesn’t move much from there. She doesn’t cuddle with him at night; he stays on the pillow she doesn't use. She still needs him here, right by her, as she sleeps or not. She doesn’t always sleep, at night. He’s a comforting presence as much as he’s a painful memory, but she can’t bear the idea of getting rid of him and she never will.

She rarely gets visitors apart from Matt sliding in through the window or Frank knocking on her door when they need her help, but no one’s ever said anything about Benji. If she expects someone to come by, she puts Benji on the dresser so he’s not on the bed and no one thinks she needs him at night like a kid. She’s not a kid anymore; that time seems like a long time ago. She doesn't think Frank or Matt would ever comment or mock her for it either; they can be jerks but they’ve both lost too much not to understand how the smallest memento can mean the world.

So Benji stays, torn ear and missing eye and all. His fur is matted and he’s so old she thinks washing him can’t be a good idea; she’s afraid he’d crumble to pieces and disappear down the drain if she did. and then… then, she’d have nothing left from her brother. Nothing but immaterial memories; and that – no. She can’t.

Kevin had loved Benji; he’d been his first and best friend since he’d been a baby and he’d never spent a night without him. Well, never except when their mother had decided a wash was in order. Kevin would wail for hours then, back when he'd been too small to understand.

Karen still remembers the day Benji landed in her brother’s arms, how it was love at first sight. She remembers when her father wanted to bury him with Kevin. She remembers, too, the day Benji had to have emergency surgery to stitch his leg back on. The stitches are still here, still visible; she made them herself while Kevin had been anxiously watching her thread the needle and sew the leg back on. “You saved him,” he’d told her. “You saved Benji.” He’d looked at her with so much awe in his eyes.

Benji’s had a long, full life. She can’t contemplate his death. The teddy bear is all she’s got left of the brother she killed, after all.


End file.
